The K27 goes digital but with limitations

[KeithT]

Its a great shame Keith that you are having problems with this sound decoder, I have used many ESU sound decoders in lots of different locos steam & Diesel with great success, never a problem ( of course some do require some CVs to be adjusted to improve both running & sound performance as do other makes of decoder)

I had an ESU Soundecoder K 27 and it worked perfectly and to the best of my knowledge it still does! I remember you actually heard that loco when you came up here!

I feel that the problems lies in what you have been sold and hoe it has been set up, I feel it may be worth returning them or even perhaps enlisting the assistance of the ESU importers SW Digital.

Steve
I thought that it was a QSI card! I hadn't heard of them previously.

Hi Keith
Sorry to hear of all the problems your having with your sound cards :wits: I do remember Steve telling me he had a QSI sound card when i got mine .

It's his age you know.

 

[KeithT]

The saga hath ended, the sound card has gone back. :bleh:

 

[Richie]

From my experiences I would avoid ESU sound units and even more so avoid buying them from Dragon who I would say is far from an expert at DCC.

Thats's a bit strong Steve. I have bought a few decoders from Jeremy with free advice on how to......
without probs...........also in my early days.......and probably his, he once chipped 5 of my locos for a labour charge of £40.......I must say that they have all been LGB or Massoth, once again.....no probs.

When i got my QSI sound card from Jeremy for my K-27 he talked me through every thing with me step by step over the phone great advice even fitted the super cap to the sound card for me as i'm not great at soldering

 

[PaulRhB]

I've used ESU, Massoth, QSI and Tsunami chips in various locos and I would say if you want plug and play then massoth but the other three are far superior in sound and performance, BUT.
The more sophisticated chips do require more setting up as they are set for an average loco out of the box and have all required modifying the chuff and acceleration settings. You would probably have found altering the chuff setting made it sound better too as it wasn't clashing with so many chuffs.
Your jerky running could have been down to two things, not set for MTS 14 steps or that it was and the transition was instant between each step causing surges and strain on the gears. Funnily enough the worst case of this I had was on the LGB Harz loco with factory fitted sound. Until I programmed a small amount of acceleration and deceleration it took off like a speedboat on choppy water and nosedived under braking. No wonder they had a reputation for stripping gears. This is the main problem with 14 steps as it's far less pronounced on 28 or 128 with a fully NMRA spec system.